Broken
by Herald Kelsin
Summary: One-Shot, Song-Fic. A Herald is Chosen by the Companion Sunia, but he just wants to go home. Like Alberich, he is given the choice to have his bond with Sunia broken. What will happen when he agrees?


Disclaimer: The lyrics belong to Blink 182, the ideas and such belong to Mercedes Lackey. The only thing I own is characters and plot.

This is just an angst-y one-shot type thing that I thought of. Basically, a Karsite is Chosen, like Alberich. Like Alberich, he is angry and confused. Like Alberich, he is offered the opportunity to have the Herald-Companion bond broken. Unlike Alberich, however, he accepts. What will happen to him?

One-shot, mainly written to get rid of writers block on my other story, so it might not be that good. In fact, its pretty bad.

Assume its somewhere in history. I know that Alberich was the first Karsite adult Chosen, but just let this guy be. After all, it is a failed Choosing, sort of.

Broken

Marit stared gloomily at the tools in his hands. He was supposed to be planting the new crop. His neck and shoulders still ached from the last all day planting session, but he knew that he needed to get the crops in.

'What with the ridiculous taxes the Sunpriests had been demanding lately, it was a wonder I can even feed myself.'

Marit squashed that thought firmly back into the mental cupboard it had emerged from. Rank heresy such as that was sure to be punished. The Sunpriests had their ways of ferreting out traitors within the fold.

Marit had only planted about one row when he heard the silvery chime of hoof beats. Being a farm child, and then an adult farmer himself, he knew exactly what a horse sounded like, and that wasn't quite it. It was almost like a horse, but yet it was something more, more than a horse could ever be.

Marit felt a warm breath on his shoulder. He swore and turned slowly to find that he was looking straight into the eyes of one of the feared Demon Horses of Valdemar, Karse's eternal foes.

He started to take a step backwards, planning to run before the thing could catch him and steal his soul, but then he met it's eyes.

_:Marit, I am no hell-demon. I am a Companion. My name is Sunia. You are my Chosen, and I will never leave you.:_

Marit's mouth opened wide in shock. Surely having his soul consumed shouldn't feel so good. For it did feel good. It felt as though he was drowning in a sea of clear blue water, or floating in it, more likely. The water was all around him, warm and comforting, supporting him and holding him up.

With a great effort, he jerked himself out of the semi-trance he had fallen into.

"NO!" He yelled as loudly as he could. He could hear the sounds of the soldier stationed with the Sunpriests down in the village making their way up the hill. They must have been following the Hell Demon.

_:Chosen, I'm sorry, but they are coming. We must be away before they get here.:_

Marit felt a tinge of gentle regret, and then he knew nothing more as Sunia took over his mind and prepared to run. For marks later, he knew nothing more. He lay, suspended in a pool of blue, hanging indefinitely.

Fate fell short this time  
Your smile fades in the summer  
Place your hand in mine  
I'll leave when I wanna

When Marit awoke, he was nearly incoherent with terror. Everything was different. He had no idea where he was. This place was strange and alien, the walls painted a shade of green that he would never have allowed in his home. The bed was far softer and more luxuriant than he was accustomed to, and even the air smelled different. Then, there was the matter of Her. He was never unaware that there was another presence in his mind. It was like his clothes didn't quite fit, and were rubbing constantly in a place that wasn't used to it.

He slowly opened his eyes and stretched, trying to smooth his coarse sandy hair into some sort of order. As his blurry double visions converged into the room he was in, he saw a young man standing in front of him. He was a tall brunette, hair confined into a horsetail behind his head.

"I am Dean Ayren. You must be our newest Trainee, Marit. You can understand me, yes?"

"And I would not be able to, why? Karsite, you are speaking, no?"

"Actually, no. Your Companion, that's Sunia, should have given you the basics of the Valdemaran tongue while you were out. Unless I miss my guess, that is what you are speaking now."

"To my life, what have you done? Your Hell Demon carry me off, did. Why?"

"To make you one of us."

"No! Join you I will not! Kill my people, you did. Unleash demons upon them, you did. Go away, make this."

"Marit, you can stay here with your Companion and become one of us. We never did what you think."

"Want this, I don't. Make it go away, can you."

"Well, Marit, there is a way. It is possible for us to break the bond you have with Sunia, but it will leave you both, well, broken." The Dean said, reluctantly.

"It, do."

"Are you sure, Marit? If you do this, there's no going back. Please reconsider. We, the Heralds, need you."

"This, I do not want. My farm, all I want, is."

Marit felt Sunia in his mind, for the last time. Her tone was heartbreaking, but he steeled his resolve.

_:Chosen, is this what you want? I love you. I just want you to be happy, but I want you to be happy with me. Are you sure about this, Chosen?:_

_:Do it.: _He thought at her as loudly as he could.

He could already feel her remote withdrawal, bracing herself for the pain.

_:Very well, love.:_

Marit felt as though he was falling. Some part of him that he never knew he had was splintering into thousands of pieces. He must surely be dying of the pain. In his mortal form, tears began to slip down his cheeks, unchecked. The pain, the pain. Then, suddenly, there was blackness, but, in it's own way, it hurt worse than the pain. Then, mercifully, Merit fainted.

This place was never the same again  
After you came and went  
How can you say you meant anything different  
To anyone standing alone   
On the street with a cigarette  
On the first night we met 

When Marit first awoke, he couldn't remember why he hurt. Then, it all came back to him. The Dean was still standing there, waiting for Marit to awake.

"You are free to go." He said, not unkindly.

"Sunia. Where?"

"Gone. The bond has been broken. It will get better over time, though you will never be fully whole."

In the few short hours that Marit had been bonded to Sunia, she had worked her way into his heart. With the untrained power of his mind alone, he reached after her, crying out for her with his mind. He cried out for her, but she did not come. She had left him.

Look to the past  
And remember her smile  
And maybe tonight  
I can breathe for awhile  
I'm not in the seat  
I think I'm fallin' asleep  
But then all that it means is   
I'll always be dreaming of you

Marit left the house of Healing and began stumbling blindly, he had no idea where. He felt filled with pain. The pain was taking him over. Surely the cold emptiness would kill him any moment.

He passed a field. It was filled with Hell Demons, no, Companions. One, the saddest looking, was bending over the fence looking at him. Somehow, he knew that it was Her.

_:Sunia, Sunia. I love you, I need you. Take me back.:_

_:I cannot, love. You are no longer my Chosen.:_

She turned her back. She may as well have been in Karse for all that Marit could make her hear him. He sank to the ground and began to sob.


End file.
